Despair and Comfort
by Shaded122
Summary: Ahri spends a day on an emotional rollercoaster. (Terrible summary XD)


Ahri ran into the forest in tears. Tears streaming down her face and both her long black hair, and nine white tails, trailing behind her in her dead sprint to the middle of nowhere. Her day had started out bad, but that wasn't too unusual considering what day it is. Once a year, every year, Ahri takes a day to remember, and meditate on, all of her past sins. The people she's killed, the lives she's ruined, and many other, smaller, misdeeds she has undertaken in her life. A task made more harsh for her, as she ends up viewing some memories from each person she kills. As such the day was normally where she was at her weakest emotionally and mentally, but she felt such reflections were necessary to prevent herself from falling back to being the monster she had once been.

Due to her emotional state, Ahri had locked herself in her home. Desiring to spend the day alone with her own reflections, than have to interact with people and allow them to see her weakness. At least, that was the plan until Katarina had arrived. The Noxian assassin had made it a habit to occasionally visit the Vastaya and debate with her. At first the visits were ultimately less than subtle attempts to challenge Ahri's ideology and potentially sway her to a more Noxian point of view, but as time passed the visits became a bonding experience between the two, and they both found a measure of fun in poking at each other's views and ideologies. Ahri almost panicked when she heard the knock on her door. She immediately knew who it was though, as even though her home is in Ionia, a place renowned for its peaceful and accepting people, she hardly ever got visitors of any kind, and she had no business with any leaders or champions that she's aware of.

The panic she felt didn't fade as she walked towards the door to answer, tears freely falling down her face, as she recalled one of the people she most regretted killing. Still, she opened the door to see a small, challenging, smirk on the face of her redheaded visitor. A challenging smirk that quickly shifted to a look that Ahri couldn't quite discern, 'causing her emotions to run even higher. As a result, the nine-tailed fox Vastaya dashed passed her philosophical rival, and straight into the woods at full speed. She didn't pay attention to the sounds of the forest as she ran by, or even which direction she was headed. She could find her way back home in time, and ultimately where she ended up didn't matter to her at all, nor did the fact that the sun had already long since gone down. She just needed to be alone with her emotions.

Due to the Vastaya's emotional state, she didn't notice the redhead assassin following her a distance away. Of course, she wouldn't have believed it if she did. There's no reason for Katarina to actually be chasing after her anyway. Was that something she'd think if she hadn't spent all day going over the memories of those she'd killed? It didn't matter. What mattered is that there's no way for her to make up to Katarina, after running away from the assassin at a full sprint, with no preamble or explanation. She potentially just lost the only person she could openly claim as a friend, and there's nothing she can do to fix the situation. So she ran, and she continued running endlessly through the thick jungle until her body couldn't take it anymore. Her legs gave out mid stride, and Ahri fell forward before rolling a few meters and finally coming to a stop by a tree. Still in tears, Ahri didn't even bother to sit up, rather she just curled herself into a ball and cried into her knees, while lying on her side.

* * *

Katarina sat in shock as she watched Ahri dash off into the jungle. The Vastaya had knocked the assassin over in her dash toward the forest, though Katarina doubted it was intentional. The redhead took a few seconds to think about what she'd seen, Ahri's tear-filled face, along with a momentary look of fear, and suddenly her close friend was bolting through her property towards a forest. Once it dawned on her, Katarina didn't hesitate to chase after her nine-tailed friend. Ahri had a decent head start, having already reached the forest by the time Katarina started moving, but the redhead Noxian hadn't spent years mastering an ability that let her micro-teleport for no reason. The reason may have been to assassinate people, sure, but it had more uses than that. She used that ability regularly in her attempt to catch her friend, and yet she found herself incapable of catching up to Ahri.

Ahri was pushing herself super hard in her sprint, which made it incredibly difficult for Katarina to catch up. However, it also made it so that Ahri couldn't keep up her pace indefinitely, despite her insane stamina. So all Katarina could do was pace herself, and hope to outlast her friend in a contest of endurance. Still, there was another risk she was facing. The two friends were running through a jungle, and while there wasn't exactly a lot of hostile wildlife in the area, the foliage made it increasingly difficult to see Ahri, especially given the fact that the sun had long since gone down. If Katarina ever lost track of Ahri, there was a chance that the fox Vastaya could take a sudden turn, and Katarina would likely never even notice she wasn't following her friend anymore. That thought stirred a powerful fear in Katarina, one that she wouldn't be able to support her friend in a time of need, and she used that fear to push herself a little bit, to help keep pace with the mad dash her friend was making. She truly couldn't afford to lose sight of her friend.

In the end, Ahri's raw endurance almost won out anyway. The fox Vastaya ran at a dead sprint for almost 35 minutes straight before she finally stumbled and almost rolled into a tree. Katarina was also on her last legs physically, barely managing to bring herself to a stop without similarly falling down and rolling into her friend. The redhead dropped to her knees and called out to her friend gently. "Ahri," Katarina's voice was barely over a whisper. "I'm here, what's wrong?"

The exhausted fox-Vastaya looked up at Katarina, tears still free falling down her cheeks, and whimpered before tucking her face back into her knees. Katarina didn't say a thing, nor did she walk away. Instead she pulled Ahri into a sitting position, and sat next to her, allowing the black-haired woman to lean against her and cry her heart out if she so desired. After a while, Ahri stopped crying but continued to remain silent, and Katarina could feel herself losing a battle with her body's need to sleep. However, she felt a need to make sure Ahri knew that she wasn't going to abandon her friend. So she laid Ahri on her side, wrapped her arms around the fox Vastaya, and cuddled with her as she started to fall asleep. The task was made more difficult due to Ahri's tails, but Katarina managed to find a way to cuddle with her friend that wouldn't put pressure on the other woman's tails.

Ahri's silence during all of this was largely contemplative. She was having a hard time accepting the fact that Katarina had followed after her, and an even harder time accepting the fact that she was being cuddled by said assassin. After several minutes struggling to process the turn of events, the raw exhaustion hit her body, and she very quickly fell asleep, only just managing to lay her tails on top of herself and Katarina to help keep them warm.

* * *

Morning dawned, and Katarina woke to find Ahri was already awake, had turned over, and was staring at her.

"Why?" Was the sole word Ahri spoke quietly as she realized Katarina was awake.

"You're in pain, Ahri," Katarina responded honestly. "I couldn't let you bear it alone. Even if I don't know why you're in pain."

The fox Vastaya closed her eyes, and sighed slowly. "I can't let myself become a monster again." She then started as Katarina's voice rang out in a short, yet loud, laugh.

Upon seeing Ahri's eyes narrow from perceived slight, Katarina spoke quickly. "Sorry, but even the best mind manipulators that claim loyalty to Noxus, couldn't get you to become a monster." The red-haired assassin allowed a small smile to appear on her lips as she saw confusion cross Ahri's features. "They can do many things, take your memories, give you new ones, make you a living puppet that can only obey orders. However, the stronger a person's will, the harder they are to manipulate in such a way, and beyond that, there's a core part of a person that they can't change or touch. Some people use that to claim as evidence that souls are real, even though anyone who knows of Thresh knows that souls are indeed real. Whatever it is though, it's beyond change. No matter what memories they take, or what memories you give, they can't turn you into a willing murderer if that part of you won't allow it, and trust me when I say that I doubt that yours allows you to be anyone other than who you are right now."

Ahri was shaken by the words from Katarina. Of course, the Noxian was largely trying to comfort her, but the idea that there's a part of her that can't be changed, at least not without her herself having a part of it, meant a lot to the Vastaya. That means that there's no way for her to go back to being the evil she once was. Her relief must have shown on her face, for Katarina's voice spoke up once again. "You know," the assassin said smoothly. "As much as I argue that you could be more Noxian in ideology, you're fine the way you are."

"Does that mean that I've changed your views on some things?" Ahri asked, not fully understanding the intent of the comment due to the volatile emotions she'd barely managed to get control of after the night of sleep.

"Not quite what I meant, but I do believe you've influenced my beliefs a bit. Definitely wouldn't have run through a forest for a friend when we first met," Katarina said with a short laugh, as she moved to finally sit up.

"I don't think most friends expect you to," Ahri said, her voice trailing off lightly at the end. "Especially after they shove you aside."

"It's not like you hurt me," Katarina said matter-of-factly. "Aside from my pride and my butt, of course.

The two shared a short laugh after that, before Katarina helped Ahri to her feet, and the two started making their way back to the fox Vastaya's home. They spent the rest of the day just enjoying each other's company, before Katarina had to head back to Noxus for her next assignment.

**A/N **

**So ... it feels good to finally be writing again, it's been forever and a day and while I'm not necessarily happy with how this story turned out, I am happy and excited to be writing again. Next up, continuing LTH. **


End file.
